Forgetting the Pain
by Elsa007
Summary: Inspired by the one way flirtation between Hook and Tink in 3x10. "Emma? Who's Emma? I only see you." Hook thinks that Emma has chosen Neal and takes Rumpelstiltskin's forgetfulness potion (used by Snow in 1x10).


**Killian Jones**

My hand shook as I held my leather flash above my head, pouring the final few straggling drops of the sweet brown liquid down my throat. There was none left. I threw the useless flagon across the room where it smashed into a glass vase with a satisfying smashing noise, sending glass spread on the floor. That satisfying feeling didn't last long. I had seen her. I had seen them both. Baelfire had kissed her and what did she do? Push him away? Tell him to back off? No. No she had allowed his arms to snake around her back and push her passionately against his car. I had felt a chasm open up in my heart, splitting my heart in two and throwing the pieces down a dark hole. I was broken. When Milah had died I thought I understood pain but that was nothing, nothing compared to this moment. She had made her choice and I couldn't deal with her answer.

Alcohol was surging through my system but I was thinking just as clearly as ever and I knew in this moment that I couldn't live like this anymore. There was one solution and I only knew one person who could give me relief. One twisted, drunken walk and three sharp pounds on a wooden door later I found myself staring into the face of Lady Crocodile. I softened at the sight. I had been expecting Rumplestiltskin to answer but seeing the ever kind, ever forgiving and ever pure Belle made me second guess myself. But the moment passed and I smirked at her as rudely as I possibly could.

"Hello love, is the crocodile in?" I could hear my voice slurring and I realized that I might be more drunk than I thought. I saw the concern on her face and rushed to reassure her. "Don't worry love, I'm not here to enact my revenge but I need his, ah, assistance.

"Rumple," She called back into the shop without opening the door any further or taking her eyes off me. "I think you might need to come out here." I heard her whispering to him and relating what I had told her, adding a 'he is completely drunk, Rumple, be careful.' The face I had been looking for appeared in the crack of the door.

"What do you want, Hook? We were a bit, ah, busy." I ignored the implication and dropped my sword to the ground, proving that I wasn't about to attack him.

"I want you to kill me, Crocodile." His brow furrowed an all pretense dropped from his voice.

"What?" he looked at me curiously. "Why?" I didn't say anything but I could feel a very unwanted tear dripping down my cheek. The door swung open and I could see that Lady Crocodile had flung it open much to the distress of her lover and walked out into the street flinging her arms around my neck. I had not expected that and, unsure of what to do, simply stood there, unmoving.

"It's Emma, isn't it? She's made her choice and broke your heart." With those words spoken out loud I could no longer hide behind any mask. It was out there in the open and it was more real than anything. I broke down in a way I could never be proud of and found myself on my knees, saltwater streaming down my face and onto the dust of the ground.

"Crocodile, please, end this." I begged. I want proud of the begging but I wanted this to be over. I could tell he was considering it until the Lady gave him a look that could only be described as a look of pure death.

"Rumple!" she growled. "You cannot be thinking about this! You promised Bae you would try, you can't go and kill the first drunken idiot to ask you." The crocodile narrowed his eyes and disappeared into his shop for a minute. When he returned he had a small flash with a purple liquid inside.

"Will that kill me?" I asked, not even trying to hide the desperation in my voice.

"No, but it will make you forget ever meeting Emma before. You won't remember that you know her or love her and the pain will be gone."

"Rumple!" Belle exclaimed angrily but I snatched it from him before she could convince him to take the lovely little bottle away.

"Name your price crocodile," I snarled.

"No price. Just your word that you will never lay a finger on Belle." I looked at the pretty young girl who was glowering at her love angrily.

"Deal." And with that, I stole off, back into the night. I stared at the little purple bottle, unsure.

"Hook!" The Lady Crocodile had followed me. "Hook, don't drink that. You will forget how to love, you can't go back. Please, you still have hope! There is still a chance for you to get her back, for you to move on, for you to find love again!"

"I'm a villain, love, I don't get to hope for the light to look down on me and feel anything. I live in the shadows and I have been kidding myself these past few weeks. I have no hope and it is this or death."

"Hook…" She began but before she could get her words out I swallowed the liquid like a shot and closed my eyes as the tingling effects took place…

" _Emma_ …"

 **Tinker Belle**

This town was a bit confusing. I hadn't seen a thing like it in all my years but I decided that I liked it. The people here were friendly and I didn't have to worry about Pan every day. What else could I ask for? I closed the door to my room as I stepped into the hallway, nearly running Hook over in the process.

"Hook! You okay?" I said, grinning at my old friend. Then, in a stroke of insanity I was completely blindsided as Hook began to flirt with me. When I proceeded to call his bluff, casually mentioning Emma he said something truly confusing.

"Emma? Who's Emma? I see only you." His fingers ran down my arm and I should have been offended, or angry, or something but I just stood there, bewildered. He was completely sick about her. For days now he couldn't hear her name without wincing, or looking up like a lost puppy who just saw their owner depending on the context but here he was looking like the hardened criminal I had met all those years ago in Neverland, just looking for a bit of fin with the first girl he came across.

"Emma. As in Emma Swan. The girl you have been following around like a puppy for over a month now. Ring a bell?" I said, just trying to get those muscular arms to stop attempting to wrap around me.

"No. Actually it doesn't. You, however my darling Tink, have my full attention."

"Ha-ha, very funny Hook. Stop it, I know what you're trying to do but distracting yourself from Emma by going after other girls isn't going to help."

"How can I distract myself from someone I don't even know? Come on now, Tink, you know you've always wanted a go at me. What's stopping you now? This Emma girl? Because I can take her out if she is an issue."

"Take her out? My God Hook, what is wrong with you?"

"Hook! There you are!" Belle ran up the stairs and rushed to Hook's side.

"You, my dear Lady Crocodile, have missed your chance. Not to mention that ridiculous lover of yours is a bit, _touchy_ about my flirtations and I don't want to get mixed up in that again."

"Belle, what is wrong with him?" I begged, hoping for some small bit of clarity.

"He's taken a forgetful potion. He doesn't remember Emma, or how to love." My eyes widened in horror.

"Good Lord, Hook, what have you done?" I asked. "We need to get him help. Why would he do this? I just talked to Emma last night and she said that Neal had kissed her and she realized that what they had was gone and she needed to look to her future not her past. She was about to pick him! Why would he do this now?"

"Damn. He just saw the kiss part, not the rest of that. He showed up at Rumple's shop last night and begged him to kill him but Rumple wouldn't do it and he gave him this potion instead. We need to do something. Rumple says that True Loves kiss doesn't even break this as he doesn't remember his true love. We need to talk to Snow-she took this same potion once and she remembered, we need to figure out how she did it!"

"You two lovely ladies talk a lot. Perhaps we can move back into Tink's room and stop the verbalizations?" Hook suggested with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Hook. We're going to go visit Snow White."

 **Emma Swan**

The tea warmed me up nicely and I sighed, absently running my fingers through Henry's hair. " _Mom_!" he groaned, pulling away like the pre-teen he was.

"Sorry, kid. But after all that Neverland nonsense it's nice to have the simplicity of this life." Mary Margaret nodded, agreeing intently and David smiled peacefully. Life was good. Life was simple. Life was… A pounding on the door distracted me. Tinker Bell's voice called out loudly.

"Snow! Snow, David, we need to talk! NOW!" I got up, my brow furrowed curiously and opened the door to find Belle and Tink leading a very distracted Hook through the door.

"Hey Emma, don't be angry." Belle began.

"What?"

"It's not his fault." Tinker Bell added.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, bemused.

"So this is the mysterious Emma?" Hook looked me over with his signature smirk planted firmly on his lips. "To be honest she's not really my type. The brunette on the other hand," his hand shot out as he pulled Mary Margaret into a tight embrace. "Hello love, what can I do for you?" Every word dripped with innuendo and David's gun was next to Hook's head within a minute.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry mate, didn't realize she was spoken for. I don't want to get in between your," he paused and sneered, "Happiness. No worries, I shall head back towards that delightful place known as 'Granny's' and take up with the lovely girl with barely any clothing." He turned to go but Belle and Tink grabbed his arms and pulled him back. I stared at him. What the hell was going on? Was this some sick joke? An attempt to make me jealous? And what was he playing at-trying to hit on Mary Margaret? I was going to find him today, ask him out on a real date but in this moment that idea seemed ridiculous. How could I trust someone who made life into this sick version of a joke just to mess with my mind?

"Emma, please, don't blame him. He doesn't know what he's saying." Belle practically begged me.

"Excuse me, lovely, I know precisely what I am saying. I'm off to fetch me a dark hair pale skinned beauty to warm my bed for me. Unless this is you going back on your earlier refusal, I don't see why you are bothering to stop me." Rolling her eyes, Belle picked up a large book of Regina's that was sitting out on the counter and hit Hook as hard as she could over the head. He crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious.

"Someone want to explain to me what the hell is going on?" I asked, failing in my attempt to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"He saw you and Neal yesterday." Belle admitted after a moment of silence.

"What? But that was all Neal, I told you yesterday, Tink, I told Neal that he needed to be part of the family but as Henry's father not as my _anything_. Is this his sick way of trying to make me jealous?" I practically spat out trying not to look at the comatose pirate lying on our kitchen floor.

"Not exactly. He just saw the kiss, he didn't see you talking with Neal afterwards. He drunk himself silly and showed up at our door last night," Belle returned carefully. "He…" She trailed off as if not wanting to say what happened next.

"What?" I sputtered. "He what?"

"He begged Rumple to kill him." There was silence.

"He did what?" My voice lost all bravado. The words were quivering as they left my lips and I shuddered as I imagined a world without Hook.

"He was completely trashed but he kept saying he finally understood the meaning of pain and that he couldn't live like this anymore. He was on his knees Emma, begging Rumple to end it but I kept trying to tell him that he needed hope, he needed to keep trying but he was crying like an infant, Emma. Against my advice, Rumple gave him a forgetful potion and I ran after him, begging him not to take it but he just whispered your name and shot it back. He passed out and I dragged him back to Rumple's shop and when he woke up this morning he didn't remember a thing after he came back from Neverland the first time to kill Rumple. He went to kill him but the deal they made for the potion kept him from harming Rumple. He's been wandering around town hitting on anything that moves, Emma, I heard him telling Ruby that he felt 'empty' and incomplete. He's looking to fill the hole he put in his heart when he forgot about you. Snow I know you once took the same potion-true loves kiss didn't break the curse. How did you do it?" my head was spinning and I felt completely broken inside. How could I not have realized that I was putting him in so much pain? I never wanted to hurt him. I was about to choose him! I had chosen him a long time ago I just hadn't known how to tell him. Maybe now it was too late. Maybe I had lost him forever. I watched as my mother gave my father a sly smile.

"He made me fall for him all over again and when I kissed him I felt the true love connection and woke up." Great. I was screwed. I had yet to grasp why someone like Hook would love someone like me and now that was my only hope for bringing him back? Damn.

Two weeks later…

I had tried everything. Mary Margaret said that the trick was to get him to believe that he was in love with me and to have him kiss me. I had spoken with every single person in this town who had ever experienced true love and got their advice and used it. I had been taught everything under the sun about oceans and sailing from Eric and Ariel and tried to seduce him through his beloved sea and as flirtatious and Hook-like as he was it was obvious he wasn't in love with me. I had cooked for him like Granny and Ruby had suggested and taken him on a romantic horseback ride per my parents' instructions but still, no good. I was dying here. I missed him more than anything and every moment that he acted like his old self I realized more and more how much I loved the man he had become. We were standing in front of Granny's and I watched as he not so slyly eyed up Ruby.

"Look, love, I appreciate this lovely story you have told me about love and me being a changed man and the like and I am certain that we would have very _satisfying_ adventures together but does this not feel incredibly forced to you? Like we are trying to make something with no spark go for the long run. "

"No spark?" I spat out at the pirate. Even when he wasn't trying to get under my skin, he still irritated me more than anything. "You obviously _don't_ remember a damn thing about us _pirate."_ And with that I gripped his leather collar in my hands and pulled him towards my face, capturing his lips in mine. I didn't care what Mary Margaret said about him needing to make the first move for this to work. He insulted our lack of passion and I wasn't about to let him get away with that. From the second his lips touched mine I felt it and from the way he stiffened I knew he could feel it too. Within seconds his hand was in my hair, his hook wrapped around my lower back pulling my closer. Electricity surged through me like I had never felt before and chills ran down my spine as his tongue darted out to taste my lips. After a minute I pulled back for air and I was shocked to find tears in his eyes.

"Swan," He whispered. "My gods what did I do?" and before I could make a single syllable of rejoicing he grabbed my hips and pulled me back in for an equally passionate kiss.

Several hours later…

"Wait a second," my father said for at least the hundredth time tonight. "You just used True Love's Kiss, no stipulations about him forgetting you? No _nothing_ about needing to convince him that he loved you?"

"I guess some true loves are just stronger than others, mate." Hook responded, smirking overtly towards my father. "Or perhaps your daughter's passion was enough to convince me that I was in love. Maybe your kissing abilities are lacking? Snow wouldn't believe that she was in love with a bad kisser so you had to keep trying." Hook managed to keep a straight face despite my father's obvious glares. They were bickering just like always but this time, I didn't care. Just as long as Hook kept holding my hand and grinning at me like that every few seconds, I didn't care what else he did.


End file.
